Collaborative Research: REU: An Integrated Field-laboratory Experience for Undergraduates: Constraints on the Tectonic Evolution of Ultramafic Massifs in the Southern Blue Ridge

9709803 Peterson REU项目将为本科生提供综合的实地和实验室研究经验。学生将解决有关巴克溪和查图格湖复合体的基性和超基性岩石单元的起源和演化的问题，这些复合体位于北卡罗莱纳西部和乔治亚州北部阿巴拉契亚山脉南部的高级变质带。关于阿巴拉契亚基性和超基性岩石的起源及其构造意义，人们一直争论不休。通过详细的野外观察、结构分析和成分信息，学生们将对这些岩石的起源和构造演化提供一些新的限制。该项目的前半部分将包括利用西卡罗莱纳大学的设施进行为期四周的实地测绘、取样和结构分析。在项目的后半部分，学生将使用南佛罗里达大学的分析设备对野外采集的岩石样本进行化学分析。教师将作为向导全面参与研究活动，为学生提供相关地质问题的详细概述，并帮助他们确定和制定研究问题；作为指导员，为他们提供现场技术、实验室规程和分析仪器使用方面的指导和培训。

9709803 Peterson This REU project will provide undergraduate students with an integrated field and laboratory research experience. Students will tackle questions about the origins and evolution of mafic and ultramafic rock units of the Buck Creek and Lake Chatuge complexes, in the high-grade metamorphic belt of the Southern Appalachians of western North Carolina and northern Georgia. The origins of Appalachian mafic and ultramafic rocks and their tectonic implications are actively debated. Using detailed field observations, structural analysis and compositional information, the students will provide some new constraints on the origin of these rocks and their tectonic evolution. The first half of the project will involve four weeks of field mapping, sampling and structural analysis using facilities at Western Carolina University. In the second half of the project, students will use the analytical facilities of the University of South Florida to chemically analyze rock samples collected in the field. The faculty will participate fully in research activities as guides, providing students with a detailed overview of the relevant geologic issues, and helping them identify and formulate the research questions; and as instructors, providing them with direction and training in field techniques, laboratory protocols, and the use of analytical instrumentation.